I think it does make a better pilot.
If you watch most pilots after take off their eyes are either straight ahead or on the instruments – which may only be fine in class D.
Spot the aerobatics pilot and you can almost guarantee his head is already moving around. Why? Its what he does automatically. Other pilots may, but most dont.
Watch an aerobatics pilot handle a spin. The movement are positive, methodical, rehearsed, accurate. So what. The same pilot in any emergency situation (which a controlled spin is not) is more likely to react and perform in the same way.
Thats part of why aerobatics training makes you a better pilot – and it is something difficult to explain and I am sure accept or believe unless you have some aerobatics training and experience.
There is an analogy. Drive a car on a race track and on a skid pan with an experienced instructor and you come away a better drive. Take an advanced driving test with a traffic cop. and you will be a better driver. Its all part of being trained to a higher level which impacts on the day to day and the mundane.
What_next, I’m not for a moment suggesting you or your colleagues are bad pilots because you don’t do aeros but trying to say why I disagree that it would be of no use.
The startle factor of any real world emergency is high, and sim-based unusual attitudes don’t replicate the forces involved well at all. Having some experience of the physical sensations associated with the attitudes you see on the PFD will reduce that startle significantly.
I’m actually trying to sell my boss on specific upset recovery training for all of us at the moment, and it is this sort of thing I am talking about rather than just going and doing a loop or a stall turn.
I wouldn’t say that being proficient in aerobatics makes much difference in typical flying, but it sure can add confidence. If you practice a lot then state of being stalled, inverted or spinning becomes something less unusual and won’t scare you. You’ll know what’s happening, why it’s happening and recovery will be natural.
I’d say there are two kinds of people: those who enjoy aerobatics and those who get sick. It’s best to do a trial flight and decide for yourself.
Extra 300 has lots of power and big control surfaces. With roll rate of 420 deg/sec you can finish a roll before the nose gets misaligned. Doing the same in a Zlin 526 requires you to properly operate rudder. So yes, starting in something weaker would be advised.
Its very odd why pilots relate aerobatic skills in terms of rolls and inversions as to the criteria for making aerobatic pilots better pilots – it is a very simplistic approach.
Fuji_Abound wrote:
Its very odd why pilots relate aerobatic skills in terms of rolls and inversions as to the criteria for making aerobatic pilots better pilots – it is a very simplistic approach.
I guess it all depends on how you define flying and being a good pilot. Since typical flying is now automated, some could call IR pilots operators, button pushers or video game players. For those people real flying is stick and rudder skill. For me it’s more about decisions. A good pilot makes responsible decisions. Yet I still appreciate skills developed in 100s of hours of aerobatic training. They’re nice to have. Can’t do harm.
I’d go with the theory that aerobatics make you a better pilot.
But every pilot I know who has killed themselves in GA has done it doing aerobatics at a too low level. And every single one handled an aircraft far better than I did.
My worry is you might be giving people the required skills to kill them selves.
People who can’t swim for instance never drown as they don’t go near water.
Bathman wrote:
But every pilot I know who has killed themselves in GA has done it doing aerobatics
You beat me to that. Five of the six aerobatic pilots I knew were killed in flying accidents (one of them in a mid-air collision – so much for the “better lookout” of aerobatic pilots). Not really a good statistics for “better pilots” a cynical person could conclude…
what_next wrote:
But this is not really like aerobatics at all.
Aerobatics isn’t just about figures and maneuvers. Just like ice skating isn’t just figure skating. Yes, if you want to fly in competitions, you have to learn that. You don’t need advanced or unlimited level skills for this. If you want to intentionally upset an aircraft so you can train recovering it, you need an aerobatic aircraft and an aerobatic rating (to do it legally). You get around that by doing it in a simulator. Even in the best simulators, it’s not the same (or so I’m told) and it’s not a luxury light GA pilots normally have. If the goal is to train recovery form unusual attitudes, the training will obviously be different compared to training for wannabe competitors.
lenthamen wrote:
How did you get into that situation in the first place???
People make mistakes and unexpected things happen. Risk management is good, but I prefer to have a backup plan. Once it happens, the only thing that matters at that point is whether I can get out of that situation with my skin intact. I can examine the why later and adjust my procedures accordingly.
Like with water crossing. I sure will do my best to avoid ditching but I still take the survival gear and do the training. Emergencies are not conductive to learning (because we learn from mistakes which is no good if that mistake kills you).
loco wrote:
those who enjoy aerobatics and those who get sick
If someone gets sick but wishes he could overcome it, the trick is to stop in time. If you don’t vomit, over time, you will be able to take more and more. If you do vomit, reverse should apply. Just find a patient instructor/ pilot.
Bathman wrote:
But every pilot I know who has killed themselves in GA has done it doing aerobatics at a too low level. And every single one handled an aircraft far better than I did.My worry is you might be giving people the required skills to kill them selves.
but is that relevant to the question which I assume was intended to mean does being an aerobatic pilot make you a better every day pilot?
